Re: virus: Antibiotics

Eric Boyd (6ceb3@qlink.queensu.ca)
Fri, 12 Mar 1999 16:12:23 -0500

Hi,

Reed Konsler <konsler@ascat.harvard.edu> write: <<
That was very clear. Now, tell me this...when you dissolve <God> what will replace it?
>>

I can't help but think of this quote:

"Every sensible man, every honest man, must hold the Christian sect in horror. But what shall we substitute in its place? you say. What? A ferocious animal has sucked the blood of my relatives. I tell you to rid yourselves of this beast, and you ask me what you shall put in its place?" -- Voltaire (1694-1778)

In all honestly, I don't know why you would want to put anything in the place of <God> -- are we not better off without superstition and virulent Viruses of the Mind?

<<
What do you offer which is as resilient as faith? I understand Richard Dawkins quite well, and I see how for him, scientific development could fill the bill. For others, I'm sure, art will hold them fast. But for some people, especially people who don't have access to much education and are in the dire straights of life, nothing beats a little good old fashioned religion. It's a K.I.S.S. from God to those who aren't fortunate enough to be our position. It's the first word and the last word. You and I are just filling in the details in the mean time.
>>

You are probably right that the vast majority of people will go to their graves with their faith -- clinging to it like a saftey blanket. However, there are new people coming all the time, and I think that a good education program (especially one related to choosing a purpose in life) could place almost all of humanity into a position like that of Dawkins -- men and women who know what they want, what they like, and how to go about doing both. In my opinion, raising a child to depend on faith is like telling them to stick their head in the ground and approach the challenges of life like an ostrich. Faith is like instinct, useful when the world conforms to the history under which it developed, but actually counter-productive in many new situations. As the world changes more and more, I think we'll see that the old faiths die out and are replaced by new ones, like yours (which as far as I can tell is kind of quaint, in it's own way, and hardly what *I* mean by "faith")

ERiC